Most of you that know me, know that the Gluten Free Edmonton community that I've tried to build with this blog, social media and support groups has been important to me to support the up's and downs my wife Amanda and our family went through and continue to go through after her Celiac Diagnosis.

What most of you don't know is that I have a full time job as a Web & Social Manager for the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, a national healthcare organization funding by Health Canada working to make care safer when you interact with the healthcare system. I have been working there for 10 years and loving it!

My oldest daughter once asked me "Daddy, what do you do when you go to work?" So I told her, "You know how mummy and me always tell you to clean your hands because germs are not for sharing...... well, I also tell that to people that work in hospitals or doctors offices, or even to people that are sick and going to see a doctor to help make sure they don't get more sick"

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Let me start off saying, if you are already a Simply Supper customer then I have a great news! Use the coupon code Gfree20 at www.simplysupper.ca for $20 off your next pick up or assembly purchase (expires end of March 2019)! If you are not a customer, you will want to use the coupon code for your first experience! Hopefully you will be hooked like us.

I also want to say that although this particular post is a sponsored post, we have been paying customers for years picking up and assembling gluten free meals at their south Edmonton location! We were not given anything for free for our previous posts. However, Simply Supper invited us to come in with our family to assemble 6 gluten free meals of our choice this month. And at the end, they threw in a few extras.

So what is Simply Supper? Well before Chef's Table, and before Hello Fresh, there was Simply Supper. A store front (two locations in Edmonton) meal prep service. You can assemble (gluten free) meals and freeze them for when you need them. We usually have one a week.

South side location on Rabbit Hill Road

So how does it work? Visit www.simplysupper.ca, click on menu and see the current months menu. Each meal is labeled if it is gluten free, can be made gluten free, or if it CANNOT be made gluten free. Click on Book Session when you are ready. Fill out the form and choose your options such as, assemble or a pick up. Choose how you want your gluten free options handled - assembled as is, free gluten free substitutes such as rice for pasta, or pay a little extra for a direct substitute like gluten free pasta. NOTE: You are not charged extra when you require a gluten free flour or a substitute gluten free sauce.

What your menu looks like when you arrive

This is our menu card that you post to a fridge so you can assemble your meals! The Earl Grey Salmon is amazing!

This is what the prep stations look like. All really clean. Wipes at each station for cleaning. Separate measuring spoons for each ingredients. Simply Supper has cut up any veggies and put all the correct size measuring cups with each one. They also put the ingredients in order from left to right to aling with their instructions. And staff are always happy to help! Need a gluten free substitute? Just as the staff, and they will bring you the gluten free flour.

Stations are clearly label if a meal is gluten free

or if a station needs a gluten free substitute.

Assembly is fun for little helpers!

They have introduced new substitutes that anyone can enjoy at no charge like cauliflower rice!

This is what an assembled meal looks like before it goes into the freezer. The ziploc bags have cooking directions on them. Read them carefully. Usually you need to take the meal out of the freezer two days before. Some of them you cook from frozen!

This was some of the bonuses we got. They have a standing gluten free brownie you can purchase as an add on! They also have gluten free protein balls. We also tried out one of their add on sides. Can't go wrong with green beans and Parmesan.

Hope you all enjoy! Remember to use the coupon code Gfree20 until the end of March 2019

I love click and collect. It has saved me about an hour a week when we use it. I have young kids, so those minutes saves are so valuable. And not so I can just rush my kids off to the next activity, but so Amanda and I can have some extra time for our selves.

The system has been so smart at knowing what we usually buy, we don't see new items put in front of us. Which is what makes the shopping experience so fast.

So that means we miss all the new items being put on the shelves. Which, is not that bad of a thing, but when you are shopping for gluten free items, and you want to know what is new. That is a huge thing.

We recently did a rare in person shopping because both of our children had sleepovers. So we thought, why not shop together in store, without kids.

Jackpot! We found so many new items gluten free items on their shelves. Here is just a couple!

So one thing you can try to do to avoid the click and collect affect is search gluten free in the Superstore online store. It will turn up most items. Or you can go into the store too! Because often, they do not make everything available for click and collect.

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Canada's most recent Food Guide was released at the end of January 2019.

The guide has a focus on balance. A balance of not only with what you eat, but the balance between eating nutritious food and activity. It looks like portion control is less of a focus, rather than the balance of what you are eating between fruits & vegetables, protein foods, and whole grains.

Health Canada now divides your plate of food as 50% fruits & vegetables, 25% protein foods (not limited to just meat), and 25% whole grains (not limited to just wheat). The guide talks about preparing foods on your own more and buying less processed foods.

Eating less processed foods might already be a common practice by many of you. As common practice you may have already been making more foods from scratch and not eating out as much as a necessity! So in some sense, some people living with Celiac Disease might be ahead of the curve with eating less processed foods.

With that being said, the guide does not have that much information if you are on any special diets, such as the gluten free diet. The Canadian Celiac Association consulted dietitians to see what this balanced diet means to people with Celiac Disease and require a gluten free diet.

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If you haven't heard yet, there is a new gluten free diner in Edmonton! Nan's Gluten Free Diner is located in Edmonton's North end.

Yup that is right, a fully dedicated diner to gluten free dining! From the reviews I hear from others, most people don't even know it is a gluten free diner!

The owner Evelyn emailed me over the winter break with some photos of some of their dishes.

Some of the customer favorites are the hot beef, the hot cakes, artichoke dip, the pies, and always the bread! Evelyn is selling her bread by the loaf, as long as they have extras. Psst, you can probably just call ahead and order some!